2020-08-24: Reds (Bauer) at Brewers (Anderson) [Brewers win, 4-2 -- Offense tallies 7 hits and 4 runs off Bauer]

[MrTPlush]

Hader’s previous deployment was also during a time when the Brewers had other high profile relievers around him Knebel/Jeffress and those guys were the neglected 9th inning guys. Now Hader is by far the most proven elite guy in the pen, thus why he is probably neglected as a 9th inning guy.

 

It doesn’t have anything to do with Hader, his agent, and money. The Brewers make the decisions and there is really no reason they need to appease Hader...not like they would ever give him some mega reliever contract and are trying to make him happy for a future team friendly deal. They would be better off not having him close and reducing his arbitration salaries with him not closing games.

 

I would hardly call Knebal or Jeffress "neglected 9th inning guys". Those guys were closers on good teams. When you have a good team, there tends to be a lot of late leads to protect. In 2017 Knebal pitched 76 innings. In 2018 Jeffress pitched 76.2 in the regular season and 8 in the post season.

 

If this Brewers team was better they'd have many more innings for Hader to pitch.

 

I was simply referring to one of the those guys being the strict 9th inning guy and allowing Hader to float around when needed. Those guys ended up pitching a lot cause we won a lot. The entire bullpen is going to be used to the max when you win that much. On a sub .500 team those 9th inning guys get underused much like Hader this year.